How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
On Christmas Eve, Mulder and Scully go ghost-hunting in a supposedly haunted house full of Christmas spirit. Summary Mulder calls Scully on Christmas Eve to check out a mansion, which Scully grudgingly obliges to do. Mulder tells Scully that they are there for a stake out. Through constant questioning, Scully finds out that Mulder is here, not on FBI matters, but to investigate ghost activity. He tells Scully that every Christmas, a couple is said to be living in the mansion. They agreed to a lover's pact, one killing the other and remaining one committing suicide. He explains that they couldn't stand the thought of being alone after the other died and during the afterlife, so they wanted to experience it all together. That was 81 years ago. Now, Mulder explains, they want to make couples who venture into their mansion have the same fate. Scully is hesitant and not interested in exploring the house because it's Christmas Eve and she has wrapping to do. Mulder then decides to go alone. Feeling guilty, Scully leaves his car and attempts to open her car door. However, she can't find her keys. She runs up to Mulder to ask him to give them back to her. He insists he doesn't have them. Strange things happen: The door to the mansion slams shut, preventing them from leaving, there are creaks heard in the ceiling from the upper floor, there are gusts of wind, indicating that a door or window is open, a shadow in the form of an old woman in a nightgown, and a clock which keeps perfect time starts dinging at exactly midnight. They fearfully and hesitantly decide to investigate the floor above them. Scully call their fear an irrational fear that all humans face. She explains that people who go in haunted houses and try to find ghosts are not afraid of death, but rather, afraid of life. Death is the only thing we as humans know will happen. It is inevitable, inescapable. So going after ghosts "says more about the living than it does about the dead." Our whole life has been tainted and influenced by scary movies. We magnify ever little detail, like a creak or howl or gust of wind. They're cliches that have been programmed into our brain, thereby making us scared of something that won't and can't happen. Mulder isn't listening to Scully's analytical view of Halloween; instead, he's trying knobs to see which will open. One finally does. Scully marches into the room unscared to discover a massive library room full of book shelves, a lit fire place, and lights on. "Have considered that someone may actually be living here?" asks Scully. Background Information *A clock at the end of this episode is inscribed with the words "J Cameron & Sons Kilmarnock" on its dial. As was common practice with timepieces, clocks and other similar items of this vintage, this was a retailer's name, not the manufacturer's. J Cameron & Sons existed in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock as a jewelers, until the mid- to late-20th Century. Links and References Guest Stars * Ed Asner as Maurice * Lily Tomlin as Lyda References 1501 Larkspur Lane; R. Grimes; J. Cameron & Son, Kilmarnock Category:X-Files episodes